Because of the Bridgeport area’s strong connection to the political fortunes of Chicago, including home to one Richard M. Daley, the dive bar’s status as community gathering spot earned it the nickname Little City Hall. A poster on one wall commemorates Daley and that connection to the political past, one that no doubt continues today in some respect. Beyond politics, the dive bar’s proximity to the home park of the Chicago White Sox earns it decent crowds before and after home games, serving as one of the Bridgeport staples for southside fans.
The space itself feels like a dive bar at first glance, wood paneling extended outside to the building’s exterior wall, brown-painted slats underneath a short shingled roof. Along the adjacent wall, the brick building has been painted green, an homage, naturally, to the dive bar’s Irish heritage. Three small windows not much bigger than a porthole provide a bit of natural light, a simple rectangular sign over the middle window with the name of the bar inscribed. For first-time visitors, note that the real door can be found along the ‘side’ of the building rather than under the shingled roof.
Inside, the color scheme continues, green painted wood slats running just under halfway up the walls throughout, clean white paint making up the rest of the surface. The name of the bar is painted along the front wall just over a tribute to the 2005 White Sox World Series win. But the back bar is the most halting visual element inside Shinnick’s Pub, to be sure, an ornately carved masterpiece of a bar that features wide columns and a massive mirror. The back bar embodies the Shinnick’s Pub history in microcosm, the Brunswick-Balke-Collendar piece one of the few left in existence and erected on site during the construction of the building. The ancient cash register along the bar’s shelf adds to the obvious history found behind the bar.
